TUF 16 Weekly Recap - Episode 10

Weekly recaps of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Carwin vs. Team
Nelson, airing Fridays on FX at 10 p.m. ET/PT, with re-airs on FUEL TV Sunday nights, UltimateFighter.com a week after that and UFC.tv.

We start our episode by revisiting the intra-Canadian relationship between Mike Ricci and Michael Hill, who are slated to fight one another in the quarterfinals. Ricci says that he has nothing against HIll, and pretty much attributes calling out Hill to ego: After beating Team Nelson’s #1 pick (Dom Waters) he wanted to fight their #2 overall pick, Michael HIll.

It’s hard to argue with Ricci’s thought process -- those darn left-brain accountants! Everyone in the house is a competitor and obstacle to winning the contract. Having said that, it’s also hard not to peg Ricci as the bad guy because he’s pleading his case while wearing sunglasses indoors. Hill (who seriously must never wear a shirt) calls Ricci a phony and warns that he’ll regret his betrayal.

We cut to Team Carwin’s training session for the first quarterfinal match between teammates Bristol Marunde and Neil Magny. Based on team sparring sessions, Bristol honestly assesses his chances and admits that he can’t stand toe-to-toe with Neil. He plans on getting in close and using dirty boxing to get the win. Neil knows this will be Bristol’s strategy but he’s not worried. He plans on going about business as usual.Magny vs. MarundeAs the first round begins, Neil sticks a couple jabs and a low kick. Though he knew of Neil’s reach advantage going in, Bristol still struggles with the distance. Bristol finally pushes Neil against the fence and takes him down. He’s not able to advance his position and Neil soon escapes and breaks the tie-up. Neil continues to land straight punches and dodge Bristol’s wide counter attempts. Neil push kicks, Bristol grabs it, trips him, and puts Neil on his back, but the round soon ends.

Bristol comes out more aggressively to begin the second round, but Neil continues to control the distance, landing straight shots. Bristol tries to counter, but his haymakers can’t find their marks and he falls out of his stance. Neil lands a short counter right hook that stuns Bristol, but he doesn’t rush in despite Dana’s cries. Bristol catches another push kick, puts Neil on his back and ends up in full guard. Bristol stacks Neil against the fence and punches, but Neil is able to push Bristol back and threatens with upkicks. Bristol passes around Neil’s long legs, but soon loses position and ends up with his back against the cage. This time, Neil gets a takedown. The two find themselves back on their feet and Bristol swings wildly, looking for a KO as time expires.

Neil takes the UD with 20-18 across the board. Coach Carwin is impressed with the performance and says Neil has "all the potential in the world!” Despite the loss and some new cuts on his face, Bristol is still happy with himself and “feels great.” Smith vs. AraujoWe quickly switch gears to the second quarterfinal fight of the evening between Igor Araujo and Colton Smith. The coaches reveal their strategies: Shane Carwin says that Igor has a much better stand-up game than Colton and will use that to “devastate" his opponent. Roy Nelson sees the fight going to the ground and expects Colton to use top control and wrestling to secure victory. There’s a bit of a scuffle at the weigh ins due to an insult getting lost in translation. (Apparently a certain maternal expletive is much more offensive in Brazil.) Coach Carwin tries to break the two up, while Coach Nelson sits on the bench and hopes to see a brawl. This causes Shane to state that Roy is a “dick.” No word on how that translates into Portuguese.

With a fistfight averted, the two eventually wind up in the cage ready for a fistfight. In what has to be a UFC first, the Brazilian fighter is actually wearing longer shorts than the American. Igor rushes Colton, gets the tie-up, but quickly ends up with his back on the fence. Colton takes Igor down and attempts a D'Arce choke. Igor tries to sweep, but Colton stuffs it. Colton attempts the D'Arce again, then takes Igor’s back. Igor rolls through for a kneebar, but can’t finish and winds up in guard again. Colton moves to front headlock position and continues to control. He throws some short punches but nothing of note. Igor returns to his feet with about a minute left. Colton takes Igor’s back again, Igor rolls through and the round ends with Colton on top.

The second round mirrors the first. Colton quickly earns the takedown, works a couple different positions and attempts his D'Arce choke another 153 times. All three judges score the fight 20-18 for Colton Smith. The two combatants hug it out and “respect” one another (I wonder what Mama Araujo thinks about that?). Dana praises Colton for absolutely dominating his opponent. Igor tells us, “This morning, I lost my fire,” and speaks about a dream he had in the morning where his wife and kids appeared and told him that they love him no matter what.

The episode ends with a sneak peak for next week. Will Joey Rivera make it to the semifinals? Does Jon Manley earn another first round finish? Do Michael Hill and Mike Ricci make up and get an apartment together? Find out next week on The Ultimate Fighter!

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